Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Congratulations (and many thanks) on 53 years!

1956



2009

Well, actually, this photo was taken in 2004 and is missing six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, but it's the best we've got for the moment. We're having another family reunion this summer and hope to get a somewhat more complete group photo then. :)

St. Paul, Wall-to-Wall

This is the first time I've felt really connected to a special church year theme throughout the year. That's because, during this year of St. Paul, we've incorporated a lot of his writings (as well as some writings about him) into our teen discussion group. And so we've tackled a number of his letters and are currently reading through Pope Benedict's book on St. Paul.

The main thing I've learned this year is that St. Paul's thinking pervades the Church's teaching and tradition and should pervade our thinking as well.

Here are a few samplings, from Pope Benedict's book, on what was so special about St. Paul:

Paul thus appears to be at the intersection between three different cultures - Roman, Greek and Jewish - and perhaps partly because of this was disposed for fruitful universalistic openness, for a mediation between cultures, for true universality.

Wow - he certainly seems like a saint for our times! I love the phrase "fruitful universalistic openness"!

And the discourse of the Areopagus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, is the model of how to translate the Gospel into Greek culture, of how to make Greeks understand that this God of the Christians and Jews was not a God foreign to their culture but the unknown God they were awaiting, the true answer to the deepest questions of their culture.

It's neat to see that the Church's tradition of taking something pagan and remaking it for her own purposes, has been with us from the earliest days of the Church.

Here's a beautiful description of what St. Paul's conversion did for him:

This expanded his heart and made it open to all. At this moment he did not lose all that was good and true in his life, in his heritage, but he understood wisdom, truth, the depth of the Law and of the prophets in a new way and in a new way made them his own. At the same time, his reasoning was open to pagan wisdom. Being open to Christ with all his heart, he had become capable of an ample dialogue with everyone, he had become capable of making himself everything to everyone. Thus he could truly be the Apostle to the Gentiles.

And a follow-up of how this applies to our own lives:

Turning now to ourselves, let us ask what this means for us. It means that fo rus too Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality. We are only Christians if we encounter Christ. Of course, he does not show himself to us in this overwhelming, luminous way, as he did to Paul to make him the Apostle to all peoples. But we too can encounter Christ in reading Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians. And in this way our reason opens, all Christ's wisdom opens, as do all the riches of truth.

Building a Culture of Life - Part 8

8. "Replace Them"

Early last year I accompanied a group of teens from our catechism discussion group to a local talk by Archbishop Chaput on "Catholics in the Public Square". Because the audience was composed mostly of people older than myself, our big row of teens were pretty prominent. It was an interesting talk with lots of food for thought and one that we still bring up in our discussions on occasion.

One particularly memorable comment by the Archbishop was in a response to one of the audience questions after the talk. The questioner wanted to know what the Archbishop thought we should do about "Catholic" politicians who support abortion. The answer was perhaps a bit surprising, given our activist inclinations, but it made a lot of sense for me in the end, and was definitely a concept that inspired this blog series on Building a Culture of Life (which I've been pretty negligent of for many months).

Anyway, this is what he answered in a nutshell. He said that it was his duty as Archbishop to engage in dialogue with politicians who claimed to be Catholic, but supported abortions. He indicated that it was perhaps a bit of a "lost cause" (Though I like to keep in mind, of course, that lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.), but that it was necessary, nevertheless. Then he exhorted the audience to remember that they had a different job - their job was to replace those politicians. When he said this, he pointed to the young people in the audience and indicated that it was our job to prepare our young people to go out and change the world and be prepared to play their important roles in changing the culture.

Giraffe Peek-a-Boo

DSC_7924, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Peacock at the Zoo

DSC_7950, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

We went to the zoo for Father's Day. Isn't this guy amazing?

I Love How...

...Kate and Frank have figured out how to keep track of the Hail Marys for each decade of the Rosary on their fingers using Sign Language numbers - which means that they only need to use one hand. They can actually keep track of what decade they're on using their other hand. Thanks, Signing Time! :)

A Little About the Making of Darby O'Gill and the Little People

(Which is one of our favorite movies.)

Library Craziness

Twice this month I've made huge trips to local libraries in which I've checked out twenty-odd picture books to see which ones we like and might be willing to recommend (particularly for a unit study I'm working on for mater et magistra magazine). There are plenty of ones that needed only a quick glance before I didn't bother and several that we finished reading, but were only so-so. Here is a list of our favorites so far:

Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts! by Lynne Truss

Wonderful Words: Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

As: A Surfeit of Similes by Norton Juster

How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear?: What are Homonyms and Homophones? by Brian P. Cleary

What's Inside: Fascinating Structures Around the World by Giles Laroche

Here are two more that we haven't quite finished reading yet (just nosed through quite a bit) and really liked so far:

G is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book by David Schwartz

Go Figure! A totally cool book about numbers by Johnny Ball

P.S. We're also in the process of reading Ethel Pochocki's Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints (from Bethlehem Books) and really like it so far. There have been a few spots that made me furrow my brow or that seemed just a little too silly, but these have been more than compensated for by some incredibly beautiful stories that are really well done. There was a little bit in the story of Juan Diego that bothered me (a little off on the Aztec story) and an aspect of the story of St. Nicholas that I thought pretty disturbing for young children, but some of the other stories, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Thomas Aquinas are really lovely and the one we just finished - on St. Paul Miki and St. Charles Lwanga - has an absolutely stunning and incredibly appropriate explanation of the martyrs. Fabulous stuff and I very much look forward to reading the rest. Oh yes, and Ben Hatke's illustrations (he also illustrated Angel in the Waters by Regina Doman) are wonderful!

Filling in the Dots...

So we were here yesterday, but we missed a lot of it since my 9 year old forgot her shoes! I thought we were "done for" which would have been very frustrating after trying to connect a bunch of people together for a group outing. Fortunately, after we gathered all of the families together, one of the moms, who lived nearby and had an older child at the house, suggested that we drive over to her house to borrow a pair of shoes. And so we did enjoy a little visit to Old World Wisconsin, with lots of friends (old and new) and here are a few fun pictures to prove it. :)

The water pump in the Danish area was a big hit with our group:



WATER! I love how Frank's determined little face is peeking out from between all the girls:



Two munchkins from our group working the water pump.



Megan's sweet little Catherine. We had another baby with our group too, but I didn't manage to get a picture of him.

I'm so excited...

...that we finally get to meet this family today, who are new additions to our homeschool group.

Please Pray

Please pray for Fr. Robert Mueller, a priest who has been very involved with and supportive of our local homeschool group. He'll be having surgery today to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Here's Another One

DSC_7445, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Fun Shot

DSC_7442, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Here's a fun shot of Frank riding the tire swing at my nephew's graduation party yesterday.

It was a lovely party with perfect weather and we're very proud of C. for all of his hard work. He's been homeschooled for the past seven or eight years and will be heading to Christendom in the fall.

My Webinar at Homeschool Connections

I was pleased to have the opportunity to host a webinar on Wednesday evening through Homeschool Connections on the topic of Choosing Worthwhile Homeschool materials. I think it went pretty well and I really enjoyed the whole thing. Walter and Maureen, who run the organization, are just awesome and make you feel right at home. I was particularly pleased to have a lovely and supportive bunch of parents participating in the webinar, and it was really interesting to chat with them throughout the presentation. If you're interested in listening to the recorded webinar, you can find it here.

They have lots of other interesting webinars coming up, including some interesting high school summer enrichment classes that you might like to check out on their main site: Homeschool Connections.

Nice Quote from Tonight's Reading

We're still working on the Holy Father's book on St. Paul:

It is essential to be conformed ever more closely to Christ. In this way one becomes really free; in this way the Law's deepest core is expressed within us: love for God and neighbor. Let us pray the Lord that he will teach us to share his sentiments, to learn from him true freedom and the evangelical love that embraces every human being.

My Niece's Art Portfolio

It's Time for Another Book Meme (Been Awhile!)

I found this over at The Philosopher-Mom:

1. What author do you own the most books by?

Most likely Shakespeare. I always pick up cheap paperback copies of his plays for group read-alouds. We have at least 40 books of his plays (individual plays or groupings of plays), not counting all the Shakespeare extras like picture books and supplemental guides.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?

Probably the Bible.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?

Nope.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

When I was a kid, it was Laurie from Little Women and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life?

See #6. As a teen/adult, two or three readings is a *lot* for me. Books that fall into that category include several Shakespeare plays (esp. Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing), Brideshead Revisited, and the Phantom Tollbooth of course. Oh, yes, and also The Man Who Was Thursday.

6. Favorite book as a ten year old?

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, though I also LOVED the Chronicles of Narnia and the Little House on the Prairie books.

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

Probably a Barney book on safety that my 5 year old picked up at the library book sale. ;)

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

Off the top of my head, I'd say: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken (But I don't remember exactly which ones I've read in the past year.)

9. If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be?

Hmmm. Maybe the Phantom Tollbooth (because it's good and they'd probaby like it).

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I'm totally stealing The Philosopher-Mom's answer, because it's brilliant: "I would love to see what Pixar could do with The Phantom Tollbooth."

11. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

Probably something from TAC that was deeply philosophical. I was generally better at Math and Lit than Philosophy - especially Senior Philosophy.

12. What is your favorite book?

There isn't one. Here are a few that come to mind right now: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Jesus of Nazareth (and others) by Pope Benedict XVI, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, St. Francis of Assisi (and others) by G.K. Chesterton. Presently I'm hoping to re-read a bunch of C.S. Lewis that I haven't read since grade school or high school. Aack - there are too many I'm forgetting - like Hilda Van Stockum.

13. Play?

Hard to say. It might be Merchant of Venice or Much Ado About Nothing. Perhaps Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot.

14. Poem?

I love the Iliad. I also really like The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton and Evangeline by Longfellow.

15. Essay?

Not sure, but I do like these two.

C.S. Lewis' introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

"The Lost Tools of Learning" by Dorothy Sayers

16. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

I don't think I can answer this question. It would have to be an author I've read who's very, very popular, but I haven't read very much in that category.

17. What is your desert island book?

I'll steal the Chestertonian answer on this one - Boatbuilding for Dummies. (or something like)

18. And . . . what are you reading right now?

I just started Under the Mercy, sequel to A Severe Mercy, but am starting to think that I should read something by C.S. Lewis in between. Most recent book finished was The Walking People by Mary Beth Keane.